Everything You Need to Know to Make the Switch
When it comes to serving beer, whether it’s for friends and family or for patrons at your bar, brewery, or restaurant, kegerators provide a convenient and effective method for serving draft beverages. Kegerators have become one of the most popular methods for serving beer in both personal and commercial settings. However, it might be challenging to determine if a kegerator unit is the right option for you. For this reason, we at Foxx Equipment thought it would prove useful to create a guide that breaks down the fundamentals of kegerators so that you can discover why these draft dispensing systems might be just what you have been looking for!
What is a Kegerator?
First things first, what exactly is a kegerator? A kegerator is a specialized, self-contained refrigeration unit designed to store and dispense beer from kegs while maintaining the freshness of the beverage. It accomplishes this all while remaining as compact and convenient as possible. You can think of it as a plug-and-play draft system in a sense, allowing for both easy installation and upkeep. As mentioned earlier, kegerators are self-contained refrigeration units meaning the only additional equipment necessary to get things up and running would be a beer tower, along with a CO² tank and the keg containing the beer of your choice.
Benefits of Owning a Kegerator
Now that we are acquainted with the equipment itself, we can dive into exactly why owning a kegerator is an asset and should be carefully considered.
- Freshness: The refrigerated nature of the kegerator, coupled with the freshness of keg-stored drinks, ensures a consistently fresh drinking experience beer after beer.
- Convenience: The self-contained, compact nature of a kegerator and it's easy-to-pour draft system make it unmatched in convenience compared to serving drinks from single-use bottles and cans.
- Versatility: While primarily used for beer, kegerators can also serve soda, wine, seltzer, nitrogen-infused beers, cold brews, and nearly any other popular beverage.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Buying and serving beer from kegs is significantly cheaper than purchasing and serving bottled or canned beer, making kegerators an extremely cost-effective choice in the long run.
- Waste Reduction: Kegerators allow you to significantly reduce the amount of overall waste produced by eliminating single-use bottles and cans.
Considerations
Before making the switch to a kegerator unit, consider these factors:
- Initial Cost: While the upfront cost may appear to be a bit steep, a kegerator pays for itself over time due to the cost-effective nature of keg utilization. It can also be cheaper in many instances than the cost of both parts and labor associated with retroactively fitting a more traditional draft system into a pre-existing space.
- Maintenance: Regular maintenance ensures the freshest drinks possible. Check out our previous newsletter for a more in-depth list of tips on how to properly clean and maintain your beer equipment.
Kegerators offer a self-contained, convenient, and cost-efficient alternative to traditional draft systems and should be considered for any establishment looking to streamline its beverage service. After all, there's a reason they have become so popular in the world of drink dispensing and so we can highly recommend considering these units when it is time to start serving from the keg!
